Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

I will take that interjection from Senator Watt. One of the benefits of a strong economy, and that is exactly what we're talking about, is the ability to provide for the essential services Australians rely on—our health system in this regard, but in particular the coalition government's record of listing lifesaving and life-changing drugs on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

I now often get to stand up in this chamber and update the Senate on announcements that our health minister makes in relation to the further listing of lifesaving and life-changing drugs. Yet again, today I am very pleased to announce to the Senate that the health minister has recently announced further listings on the PBS, including that more than 2,200 patients with metastatic small-cell lung cancer will now be able to access the drug Keytruda—a very well-known drug—as a first-line treatment in combination with chemotherapy.

As a result of our strong economy, the health minister has now ensured that Australians with lung cancer will have the broadest access in the world to Keytruda. If it was not for this listing, those patients requiring Keytruda would have paid up to $120,000 a year, depending on their specific cancer subtype. In terms of our listings, since coming to office in 2013 the coalition government has invested over $10.7 billion in lifesaving and life-changing medicines on the PBS. That is over 2,200 new or amended listings, and that equates to adding approximately one medicine every day to the PBS since we've been in government.